Jessica Williams's new collection is an homage called "I'm Too Sad To Tell You (after Bas Jan Ader)":

Lego Leah

Mari Willcox

Matt Parsons

Artist Chris Crites paints mugshots on paper bags:

Pittsburgh-based artist Andy Kehoe:

Humanity Bleeds
(2007)

War Hovers Over Us Again
(2006)

Myth Rises from the Dead Beast
(2007)

There is a new dance craze sweeping the nation and it comes from a song that includes lyrics so foul that if you or the FCC understood what was being said there would most certainly be outrage. The fact of the matter is: most people don't know what it means to "Superman a ho" and thus it is fine to say it on the radio and fine for kids to sing along. (If you are one of those folks who doesn't know what it means to "Superman a ho" you can click here for a definition, but be forewarned: it's not pretty.) If you want to know more about the fella responsible, Soulja Boy, and/or this whole phenomenon, click here and check out Weiss's commentary.

Although I find the music stupendously imbecilic, I find great beauty in the dance, which reminds me of the tribal moves I witnessed in West Africa. Below is a video of Soulja Boy demonstrating the proper technique. Because the kid is a pretty annoying speaker, let the video load completely and then drag the bar forward to the 2:29 mark to watch him and his backup dancers perform the entire dance.

Today the work of American Post-Graffiti Abstract Expressionist Rene Gagnon:

Bridging the Gap
(2007)

Turning Point #1
(2007)

Four Score
(2003)

Perfect Storm
(2006)

Korean artist Jung-Yeon Min:

Rencontre
(2007)

Le Repas
(2006)

Voyage
(2005)

The new issue of EOAGH is up and it has a bunch of cool stuff including a lyric essay by Stephen Paul Miller called "Off The Top Of My Radiohead."

Sadly, the fantastic website Your Daily Awesome comes to an end.

CSP introduced me to the work of Japanese artist Atsushi Fukunaga:

The Squeaks of the Mice from Below the Floor

I came to Kopenhagen by Scandlines

Das Geraeusch von brechend Buntstifte

My brother recently turned me on to the musician Chris Garneau. Here is a really beautiful video of him performing his song "We Don't Try," which was directed by a group called La Blogotheque:

Although Godard's Bande à part is perhaps one of his most well known films, I didn't enjoy it as much as the others I've seen lately. For one, the two male characters are so cruel and take such horrible advantage of Anna Karina, it's hard to watch from start to finish. Plus, this film doesn't have any of the stylistic flourishes of Masculin, féminin or Une femme est une femme nor the formal innovation of Deux ou trois choses que je sais d'elle. Don't get me wrong, it's a good film, but by no means his most interesting. I would, however, rank it higher than Le petit soldat, which was also good but not especially brilliant.

My obsession continues...

Last night I was hypnotized by Godard's Masculin, féminin. My friend Tim mentioned that it was his favorite JLG movie and I might just have to agree with him.

It's broken up into fifteen chapters. I watched the first 4 chapters with subtitles and then decided to switch them off. I will now have to go back and watch the film with the subtitles, to figure out what was said, since my French comprehension is almost nonexistent. This is a very interesting way to watch a film: relying only on the visuals and the body language and tone of voice to convey meaning.

Even though I don't exactly know what was spoken, I'm willing to say that this film is a brilliant work of cinematic genius. Seriously. You need to experience it!

Here's the trailer, which is sorta silly, but boy is that tune catchy:

My short piece
"I Am Afraid Of Light"
is now appearing at
Word Riot

.

Thanks to Robin, I give you the illustrations of Emmanuel Polanco:

Edgar Allen

Hegel

"The Boston-based performance group Institute for Infinitely Small Things has published a book called The New American Dictionary.

The dictionary highlights the terminology of fear, security and war that has permeated American English post 9-11. It includes 68 new terms i.e. Preparedness and Freedom Fries as well as terms that have recently been redefined i.e. Torture.

The dictionary also has an interactive dimension. 58 terms are left undefined for the reader to pencil in their own definition. Furthermore, readers are invited to submit their additions to the institute for a possible inclusion in the 2nd edition."

(thanks to Gorilla Innovation)

Today I thought I'd do a little literary round-up:

New issue of DIAGRAM, includes a poem called "Shinto Fantasy 2" by Heather Green, which begins:

Roadside, I read signs in the snowdrift,
in the lamppost, in the ocean’s jelly peaks,


Also from DIAGRAM/New Michigan Press, Mathias Svalina's chapbook Creation Myths:




New issue of the always anonymous pamphlet, The Cupboard, includes a prose piece based on the movie adaptation of the book The Hunger, which begins:

dark entry into discotheque. the printer's son shimying against chain link fence with a backdrop of art school dropouts for the amusement of blond french marianne and blond english ziggy.


New Issue of Lamination Colony includes a piece called "Four Segments" by Shane Jones, which begins:

Thaddeus walked into the woods and asked the children twisting the heads of owls if they had seen a small girl in yellow pajamas. The three children were sitting against an oak tree with their legs stretched out, the snow stitched to their waists.


New issue of Coconut includes a poem called "You" by Dorine Preston, which begins:

God, I could put out

your eyes I could

put out. I could wring

my hands, my snakes.


New issue of Shampoo includes a poem called "On Surface" by Laura Carter, which begins:

We needled our way into the evening soup like bright birds.
One girl lost a leg at the beginning of the narrative.
I held her hand and whispered about the avant-garde.

Here is a music video for Emily Loizeau’s "Je suis jalouse," directed by Jaron Albertin:

CSP clued me in on Seattle artist Kerb Lydick:

Crow

Future-Telling Machine

Untitled work by Robert Williams:

Syrian artist Mouneer Al-Shaárani:

If you have ever wanted to see the color red in a way that you have never seen it before, or if you have ever wanted to see a "neorealist musical," or if you have ever wanted to smile for 84 minutes, you should rent Godard's Une femme est une femme.

I'm currently rediscovering Godard.

Tonight I watched 2 ou 3 choses que je sais d'elle, which blew my mind.

It is non-narrative. It is a cinematic essay. It is genius.

I am reading Colin McCabe's Godard: A Portrait of the Artist at Seventy.

I didn't appreciate Godard when I was in film school. I was an idiot.

Three Untitled pieces from Cuban artist Aliosha Aracil Boullon:

Estevan Carlos Benson has set some haunting music to the legendary dance sequence in Jean-Luc Godard's Vivre sa Vie:

Spectacular Mammatus Clouds over Hastings, Nebraska, by photographer Jorn Olsen:

Maki Tamura earned an MFA in Painting from the Tyler School of Art at Temple University:

Stories
(2005-2006)

Stories (side view)

Birds
(2005-2006)

ps - My brother recently posted some great videos of people doing covers.